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Business to Arts Award Nomination

NCBI was recently shortlisted for the Business to Arts Creative Staff Engagement Award for our corporate social responsibility initiative with New Ireland Assurance. This partnership saw staff at New Ireland Assurance read and record an audio collection of Frank O Connor’s Collected Stories, which was produced by NCBI’s Library.

The awards were held in the Bord Gais Theatre and, while NCBI lost to Bank of Ireland on the night, we were delighted to have been nominated for these prestigious awards. NCBI produces and distributes books in accessible formats such as Braille, audio and large print to the growing number of people with vision impairments nationally.

According to NCBI Chief Executive Chris White, no longer being able to read is a huge loss for people dealing with sight loss. “NCBI works with 8,000 people each year. Not being able to read a book or even the headlines in the newspaper leaves people feeling isolated. NCBI’s library unlocks the world of books to people who are blind or vision impaired. Our library is the only producer of unabridged audio books in Ireland, recording 30 titles a year that would not otherwise be available to people who are blind or vision impaired.”

NCBI does not receive statutory funding for the running of its library service so partnerships with companies like New Ireland Assurance are a vital lifeline for the charity. This new initiative saw 30 New Ireland employees record one story each from Frank O’Connor’s Collected Short Stories.

This initiative allows NCBI to grow its collection for library members, while allowing companies to fulfil their corporate social responsibility programmes by either sponsoring a book or recording one.

NCBI is delighted to have ongoing support from New Ireland Assurance, which enabled the creation of this great and accessible collection of short stories.